How to Set Up a Dashboard!

So, you want to know how to set up a Dashboard! Dashboards are a critical but often undervalued tool which allows your company’s directors and managers to see what is going on in the business at a glance. If you are looking to set up a dashboard, the best method is going to depend heavily on what exactly you are trying to monitor.

Cash Flow

If your focus is on cash flow, most modern accounting packages come with Dashboards built into them. Some of the best dashboards can be found with Quickbooks, Zoho and Xero. If your current accounting package does not include a dashboard there are several online tools which can tie into your package and create one for you. One such product is Klipfolio which costs $29 USD a month.

As a note, if you are an Australian company and are working with an account package that is starting to get dated, you should seriously consider migrating. The federal government recently brought out new payment laws which change how payroll and accounting systems need to work in Australia. It’s all part of the Single Touch Payroll initiative. Your older packages are not likely to meet these new requirements which will cause you a lot of stress come time for your end of year reporting.

Social Media

Turning to social media and marketing, the first area that you will likely want to monitor is your website. The go-to for this is Google Analytics. It is free but does require a bit of setup in the backend. Your standard web developer should be able to get it set up for you if they have not done so already. For your social media activities, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube all come with their own dashboards. To avoid having to jump between all of them though you should consider getting a product that links them all together. One of the easier options for this is Dasheroo which has a free package and requires little effort to set up.

Custom designed

Finally, if you are trying to monitor productivity or anything that would be considered ‘unique’ to your business or industry your typically going to need to pay out for something a little more special. There are a ton of different inventory, customer relation, field service, service request, and utility management systems in the market which may fit your needs and do come with dashboards. However, they are often on the expensive side or require extensive setup. If you are looking for such a dashboard, it’s highly advised that you go to an IT specialist. You may find that the best solution is to actually get something custom built.